Nintendo France: “The 3DS will not Suffer from the Release of the Nintendo Switch in 2017”

Each arrival of a new console, players are wondering the same thing: do other manufacturer’s platforms are caused to die quickly or do they have a future? One issue that appears twice with the Nintendo Switch , eyeing both on the market for Wii U and 3DS with its hybrid format. But according to Nintendo France, the two did not suffer in the same way.

The Nintendo 3DS will not suffer from the launch of the Nintendo Switch

The Wii U is dead. It is a fact. If Nintendo has offered a beautiful swan song with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , you must not rely on it for 2017. An obvious failure that Nintendo hopes to erase Switch. But what about the Nintendo 3DS? With 4.6 million consoles in France (65.5 million worldwide), the laptop was for her a loyal, quality titles and the support of many publishers, mostly Japanese. Can it live along with the Nintendo Switch, which offers portable possibilies and could be seen as a competitor? According Lavoué Philippe, Director of Nintendo France, the answer is yes.

First, Nintendo is proud sales Pokémon Sun / Moon in France, up to 854,000 copies last year and partly to sell 450,000 copies more in 2017 according to internal forecasts. A partially successful due Pokémon GO : from surveys conducted by Nintendo revealed that 23% of buyers of the latest Pokémon 3DS are provided through mobile gaming Niantic.

Inevitably, the success of Pokémon Sun / Moon Nintendo confirms France in their ambitions around the Nintendo 3DS, including the year 2017. The other game that proves characteristic confidence builder is Yokai Watch 2 , scheduled for April 7 next on our territory. While the first album has sold 260,000 copies here, Philippe Lavoué is based on the success of the second episode in Japan (which it has passed two times the first game) to predict sales of 450,000 copies Yokai Watch 2 in 2017 in France.

Behind games like Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia , Ever Oasis or Pikmin 3DS seem to promise a real future, Philippe Lavoué ensuring a big game a month will be released on Nintendo 3DS throughout the year 2017. Thus, Nintendo France ambitions are to achieve 700,000 sales 3DS this year, ie the same number as last year, but also to sell 3 million sets.

If these forecasts are confirmed, 3DS owners should be happy not to see them forgotten console by Nintendo. Although with such a large park, they have the support of many third party publishers like Capcom, Square Enix or Atlus. Remains to be seen if this will always happen on 2018, according to the propensity of the Switch to engulf or not market its big sister.